5. PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING: NEW CONDITIONS, OLD MISSION

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5. PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING NEW CONDITIONS,
OLD MISSION?

• Dr Beata Klimkiewicz
• Jagiellonian University
• Kraków, Poland

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EUROPEAN MODEL OF PSB

• defined against the American system of commercial
  or market oriented broadcasting
• dual system introduced in 80s and 90s
• basic public interest objectives
• a nationwide universal service, characterised by
  the production and transmission of a wide range
  of good quality programming, on a non-profit
  basis
• a set of shared values understood as encompassing
  public service philosophy

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PSBs DEFINITIONS
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PSB A NORMATIVE CATEGORY

• Nicholas Garnham (1993)
• The provision to all citizens on equal terms and
  as enabling condition of such citizenship, of the
  site of the cultural expression and exchange
  through which social identities are formed, and
  of access to the information and debate upon
  which democratic politics are founded. In order
  to fulfil this role, the site should be as free
  as possible from the distorting effects of the
  exercise of economic or State power.

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THE CENTRAL EUROPEAN CASE AN IDEALISED VIEW

• Karol Jakubowicz (2004)
• the conviction that it is possible to transplant
  PSB model and institutions from Western Europe
  without the requisite social, political and
  cultural context
• the assumption that PSB organisations can be
  detached from party politics and that journalists
  can be persuaded to operate in line with so
  called Western PSB journalistic standards
• a belief in the ability to transform state into
  PSB broadcasters capable of holding their own in
  a competitive market.

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STATE INFLUENCE

• politicisation of management and staff dominated
  restructuring and managerial reform
• newly created PSBs were not given enough time for
  the necessary institutional changes and the
  professional and cultural changes among the staff
  
• Beginning of 90s Hungarian media wars
• 2000/2001 massive protests of Czech civil
  society
• 2003 involvement of the management of Polish PSB
  in Rywingate

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STRUCTURE

• institutional exclusiveness of the former state
  broadcasters
• Hungarian broadcasting law defines PSB mission
  cross-institutionally
• private, commercial broadcasters are required to
  realise public service mission

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MISSION

• no successful implementation of PSB obligations
  (independence, impartiality, detachment from
  politics, dedication to public interest,
  commitment to quality, ability to refrain from
  pandering to the lowest common denominator)
• frequent management and leadership crisis,
  self-censorship of journalists, inadequate
  dedication of the staff to PSB values, including
  non-commercialism, high professionalism and high
  quality

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FINANCING

• financial independence both from government
  subsidies and private advertisers wasnt achieved
• prevalence of revenues from licence fees paid by
  viewers Czech Republic, Slovakia
• prevalence of revenues from advertising Poland,
  Hungary
• prevalence of state subsidies Bulgaria

10
MARKET SHARE

• PSBs - not dominant market players
• commercial players managed to fix their leading
  positions before PSBs were successfully
  restructured
• dominant position of PSB Poland

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LEGITIMACY OF PSB

• EU media policy increasingly portrays PSB as an
  exception to the normal rules that apply to
  broadcasting and audiovisual industries
• PSB broadcasters are more and more required to
  justify their very existence
• Safeguarding the Future of the European
  Audiovisual Market (2004)
• TV and radio broadcasters with public service
  remit funded either wholly through State Aid or
  through a combination of State Aid and commercial
  revenues including advertising.
• to use competition law to challenge PSBs

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NO CONVERGENCE FOR PSB?

• on-line services of the PSB should only be
  permissible, if closely linked to the
  traditional broadcasting services
• doubts with regard to the legitimacy of links,
  which lead from public web pages to commercial
  web pages
• the treatment of mobile services contents made
  on mobile platforms should be inadmissible per se
• Verena Wiedemann no permission for PSBs to play
  their role of ensuring media pluralism in the era
  of media convergence
• to turn the dual PSB systems of the MS into a
  model of the past with no future in the digital
  age

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THE AMSTERDAM PROTOCOL

• Amsterdam Protocol an interpretative provision
  to EC Treaty
• The Preamble of the Protocol
• PSB is directly linked with the democratic,
  social and cultural needs of each society and
  with the requirement to protect pluralism in the
  media.
• EC Treaty itself assigns to PSB an important role
  for the safeguarding media pluralism

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MONASTERY MODEL ?

• PSB may be forced to adopt the monastery model,
  as a niche broadcaster concentrating on culture,
  education and other content commercial
  broadcasters cannot broadcast profitably and may
  ultimately be eliminated altogether

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CONCLUSIONS

• the introduction of a media institution born in a
  completely different historical time and
  different social, political, cultural and most
  importantly technological circumstances
• new conditions, old mission 
• modelled after West European normative PSB
  pattern
• encouragement to switch to the new paradigm and
  focus on commercial and economic goals.